True Love for the Prophet Muhammad (Pbuh)

True Love for the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ

Speaker: Sheikh Mohammed Faqih

Opening

Khutbat al-Hajah (Opening Sermon)

"O you who have believed, fear Allah and speak words of appropriate justice."

"He will correct for you your deeds and forgive you your sins. And whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger has certainly attained a great attainment."

Introduction: The Claim of Love

If you were to ask any Muslim, any 21st century Muslim, whether they loved the Prophet ﷺ or not, everyone will claim that they love the Prophet ﷺ. Who would ever dare to say that they don't love the Prophet ﷺ?

As a matter of fact, we all claim that we love him more than anyone else. This is a claim that we all make. Yet the average person doesn't know how to express that love or how to manifest that love.

If you truly love the Prophet ﷺ and you want to show the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and before even the Prophet ﷺ, you want to show Allah that you love his Messenger—how is that love supposed to manifest itself in your life?

You can make that claim to me and I will just take it and I will believe it. I can make that claim and you will believe me. But we can make claims that we are not truthful about to Allah jalla jalaluhu. Allah won't accept it.

So what does authentic, real, true love for the Prophet ﷺ look like? How does Allah jalla jalaluhu want us to show that love? That's what matters the most.

Why We Love the Prophet ﷺ

At the end of the day, we love the Prophet ﷺ. As a human being, if you met him, those who met him, may Allah be pleased with them, they said he was the most amazing, extraordinary human being you can ever meet or interact with. But as a human being, he was amazing.

But the reason the Prophet ﷺ means much more than just an amazing, extraordinary human being to us is because he is Rasulullah ﷺ. And Allah jalla jalaluhu mentioned him in the Quran and the companions spoke about him ﷺ describing him and anyone that learns anything about the Prophet ﷺ objectively will have to fall in love with him ﷺ.

But when it comes to loving him ﷺ as an obligation, as a religious obligation, as a necessity, as part of you being a true believer, that love has what the scholars call lawazim (necessities). It necessitates more than just a claim, a verbal claim.

First Necessity: Belief in the Prophet ﷺ

Allah jalla jalaluhu mentions that to us in the Quran. The first one is that we have to believe in him ﷺ. We have to believe in his Prophethood. We have to believe that he was a messenger from Allah jalla jalaluhu.

Of course everyone will say, of course I believe that he was a messenger from Allah jalla jalaluhu. I even heard from non-Muslims, some non-Muslims who say, yeah, we believe that he was a true messenger from God. He couldn't be anything except a messenger from Allah jalla jalaluhu.

The Prophet ﷺ, if you study his life, if you study his seerah, you will come to one conclusion and one conclusion only—that that man could have not been anything except a messenger from Allah. There is no other explanation for it.

But what does that mean? Brothers and sisters, what that means is that the Prophet ﷺ had authority given to him by Allah jalla jalaluhu. The Prophet ﷺ was the recipient of Allah's divine revelation. The Prophet ﷺ was infallible. The Prophet ﷺ was sacred. It's a red line.

Believing in him is essential. Without believing in the Prophet ﷺ or if a person rejects the Prophet ﷺ or rejects anything that the Prophet ﷺ brought, that person is no longer classified as a believer. You can believe in Allah or in the existence of Allah jalla jalaluhu. If you reject the Prophet's authority as a messenger from Allah jalla jalaluhu, then that person is not a believer.

Allah jalla jalaluhu says:

"So believe in Allah and His Messenger, the unlettered Prophet."

Without believing in him ﷺ, a person will not have a chance to make it to Jannah. This has to be well established. We cannot be in doubt. This has to be very clear. That if someone accepts everything that the Prophet ﷺ brought, except that that individual does not consider the Prophet ﷺ to be a messenger from God or does not believe in the Prophet ﷺ, that person cannot be called a believer.

Believing in the Prophet ﷺ also means that we believe that whatever he brought is from Allah jalla jalaluhu. Believing in the Prophet ﷺ also means that the Prophet ﷺ fulfilled his mission and he completed the religion and he did not hold back.

"He delivered the message."

"And he fulfilled his obligation."

"O Messenger, announce that which has been revealed to you from your Lord, and if you do not, then you have not conveyed His message."

The Prophet ﷺ did not hold back, did not hide anything. The Prophet ﷺ did not conceal anything ﷺ.

"I convey to you."

Everything that Allah jalla jalaluhu revealed to him and told him to deliver, he did. And the Prophet ﷺ gave it all and he put his own life and everything that he had on the line. So we have to believe in that. There are no secrets, there are no hidden information that the Prophet ﷺ did not hold back.

He delivered everything. That's the first one.

Second Necessity: Prioritizing Love for the Prophet ﷺ

Loving the Prophet ﷺ means that you put his love above and before anything else. After the love of Allah jalla jalaluhu is the love of the Prophet ﷺ. And this claim, brothers and sisters, will be tested. We will be tested.

Just like if we were to claim that we believe in Allah jalla jalaluhu, Allah says, I will test you:

"Do the people think that they will be left to say, 'We believe' and they will not be tried?"

Likewise, your love, your claim to love the Prophet ﷺ will be tested. Allah will test you.

Do you love the Prophet ﷺ more or do you love your wealth more? The companions of the Prophet ﷺ were tested. Do you love the Prophet ﷺ more or do you love your family or your children more? Is it more important for you to please the Prophet of Allah ﷺ or to please Allah by obeying the Messenger of Allah ﷺ?

Is the Prophet ﷺ more loved to you than your spouse or your reputation or how people perceive you? All of this is going to be tested. And Allah jalla jalaluhu said clearly to the companions:

"Say, [O Muhammad], 'If your fathers, your sons, your brothers, your wives, your relatives, wealth which you have obtained, commerce wherein you fear decline, and dwellings with which you are pleased are more beloved to you than Allah and His Messenger...'"

Your tribes, your nationality, if any of these elements are more beloved to you, if they are dearer to you than Allah and His Messenger ﷺ, so Allah jalla jalaluhu says that then wait until Allah's command comes to you.

In other words, the love of Allah and His Prophet ﷺ must be put above and before any of this.

The Hadith: None of You Believes

The Prophet ﷺ said, Anas reported that the Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 15; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 44)

"None of you is a true believer until I am dearer to him from his parents and his children."

The Story of Umar ibn al-Khattab

Ibn al-Khattab, he said, we were with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and when he was holding the hand of Umar at that moment he said to the Messenger of Allah—imagine just having your hand being held by the Prophet ﷺ.

So the Prophet ﷺ is holding Umar's hand and Umar felt the love. So he said to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ expressing and sharing what he felt at that moment. He said:

"O Messenger of Allah, you are indeed more beloved to me than anything I love, more than anything to be honest." And at that moment he didn't think to himself. He said, "I love you more than anything except myself. I love myself."

So the Messenger of Allah ﷺ didn't say, "Thank you Umar, that's great." The Prophet ﷺ had to explain to Umar that that's not enough. So he said to Umar:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6632)

"No, nay Umar. By the one in whose hand is my soul, not until I am more beloved to you than yourself."

And Umar said:

"Messenger of Allah, you are indeed more beloved to me than myself. I love you more than my soul. I would give up my life for you. Which means that I love you more than I love myself."

And that's when the Prophet ﷺ said:

"Now, now you got there, Umar. Now you finally got it."

The Companions' Love for the Prophet ﷺ

And the companions of the Prophet ﷺ had this natural love for the Prophet ﷺ that they were willing to put everything and anything on the line for the Prophet ﷺ.

Abu Talha was defending the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in the battlefield on the day of Uhud. And as the Prophet ﷺ was giving—was supplying him with arrows—when the Prophet stood, Abu Talha kept saying, "Messenger

The Hadith: Three Components of Iman

And because the Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 16; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 43)

"You want to know what Iman tastes like? You want to enjoy the sweetness of Iman? The Prophet ﷺ says you have to have three components. There have to be these three things that you have to be able to master."

And the number one thing that the Prophet ﷺ mentioned was:

"To love Allah and His Messenger more than anyone or anything else."

Once you're there, you put Allah and His Messenger before anyone or anything else, then you're going to start tasting Iman. Then Iman is going to become an extraordinary experience that you will enjoy. It's not going to be this huge struggle. It's not going to be a burden. It's going to be an amazing experience.

So the companions of the Prophet ﷺ loved the Messenger of Allah ﷺ more than anything else.

Our Opportunity to Love the Prophet ﷺ

And for us, there's a chance. Yes, we didn't meet the Prophet ﷺ. We won't be able to. As one of the scholars, contemporary poets said: "Rasulullah, I wasn't there for you in Uhud. I couldn't be there for you in Uhud. I wasn't there for you in Badr. I wasn't able to be with you in the cave. I couldn't travel with you. I wasn't there to listen to your khutbas directly from you. I couldn't pray behind you. I didn't have the chance to hold your hand or hug your body or kiss it. I didn't have the opportunity. I wasn't given the opportunity to ask you to pray for me or to be touched by you."

We don't—that is not—but we have another opportunity that the Prophet ﷺ talked about. The Prophet ﷺ spoke about a people who will come after his time, individuals who will love him sincerely. That they will be willing, theoretically speaking, they will be willing to give up everything that they have to have a moment with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ or to see him.

That kind of love cannot be achieved by just making a claim. In order for us to reach that level, we'll have to get to know the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. But not only that, but we have to also manifest our love with the third element that the scholars mentioned and Allah jalla jalaluhu stated in the Quran, which is to put the Prophet ﷺ or to honor the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and to show him the respect that he deserves.

Third Necessity: Honoring and Respecting the Prophet ﷺ

This is something that we have to hold ourselves to the highest of standards. And we have to make sure that this is something also that we reinforce in our households—showing the Prophet ﷺ the respect that he deserves.

Tawqeer, ihtiram, taqdeer—these are different words for it.

When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ moved to Medina, his host was Abu Ayyub al-Ansari and Abu Ayyub al-Ansari and his wife Umm Ayyub al-Ansari. When the Prophet ﷺ came, they offered the Prophet ﷺ—they had a two-story house. So they offered the Messenger of Allah ﷺ to be upstairs. And the Prophet ﷺ took that.

But then it became an inconvenience because every time people came to meet with the Prophet ﷺ or he wanted to meet with someone, they had to come and go through Abu Ayyub and Umm Ayyub. So it was an inconvenience.

So the Messenger of Allah ﷺ asked them too if he can move to the lower level and if they can take back their room upstairs. And Abu Ayyub and Umm Ayyub said to the Prophet ﷺ, "How Messenger of Allah ﷺ? How can we do this? We cannot imagine being above you, O Messenger of Allah ﷺ. Physically we can't be sitting on top of where you are."

To the point where in some books they say that Abu Ayyub and Umm Ayyub used to always sit in the corner just because they couldn't just be themselves and enjoy themselves walking around on a floor beneath which the Prophet ﷺ is sitting.

And the Prophet ﷺ they told him, one time they broke a vessel or a container that had water on it and they didn't want that to drip, to leak or drip on the Prophet ﷺ. So they started to use all of their garments and whatever they had to dry.

So even in that—one of the companions of the Prophet ﷺ speaking to his son, speaking to his son, he said:

"O son, you know that I love you more than anyone else except Rasulullah." It's obvious. But even in their speech, they were very careful. They made sure that they put the Prophet ﷺ before anyone:

He felt that he should mention the Prophet ﷺ first.

Quranic Commands to Honor the Prophet ﷺ

And Allah jalla jalaluhu in the Quran said:

Surah Al-Fath 48:8-9

So Allah jalla jalaluhu requires that from us that we show him the respect that he deserves. We're not supposed to address the Prophet ﷺ like we address one another. We address him with his title:

Surah An-Nur 24:63

We invoke God's peace and blessings upon him ﷺ. And we send our salutations to him ﷺ.

We don't raise our voices above the voice of the Prophet ﷺ. And we don't raise our voices in his masjid because he's buried there ﷺ. And whenever his statements or his sunnah or his tradition is being taught, we lower our voices and we show respect for the Prophet ﷺ and for his legacy and for his memory ﷺ.

The Story of Zahid ibn Sa'd

Zahid ibn Sa'd was addressing a community. And in the middle of a hadith he was telling them about what the Prophet ﷺ said. And he found that some people were talking. They were having a side talk. They were whispering. And he was offended.

He said, "I'm telling you what the Prophet ﷺ used to say and you distract yourself with a side conversation? This is not a community worthy of living amongst." And he decided to relocate. He actually went, packed his stuff and he left the town because he felt that they didn't have appreciation for what the Prophet ﷺ had to say.

And now we have people who reject the entire collection of the Prophet ﷺ's statements and narrations that tell us what the Prophet ﷺ was like.

Fourth Necessity: Obeying the Prophet ﷺ

Last but not least that I would like to mention is obeying the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. True love for the Prophet ﷺ manifests itself in obeying him:

Surah Al-Hashr 59:7

Surah An-Nisa 4:80

"Whatever he brought you, you have to take ."

There's no way for those who say, "Well, I'm not rejecting what the Prophet ﷺ said, but we cannot authenticate any of this. Or we don't know what is real and what is not. So therefore we're just going to reject everything. Or

we're going to just marginalize everything. We're not going to accept anything."

So you're telling me Allah said obey the Messenger of Allah ﷺ? And Allah said whatever the Prophet brought you, take. And whatever he forbade you from, stay away from it. And you're telling me that is basically lost?

The only generation that was able to hear and practice what the Prophet ﷺ told them to do was the companions, those who lived with him. And those who came after him have no access to any of that? It was lost? With his death, the Prophet ﷺ's legacy is gone? The only thing that is left is the Quran?

Subhanallah, and how do we know how to pray? The Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 631)

"Pray as you see me pray."

So where do we find that? You can't find it in the Quran.

The Prophet ﷺ speaking about hajj he said:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1297)

"Learn the rites of hajj from me."

Where do we find that?

First Khutbah Closing

I say this and I ask Allah jalla jalaluhu to make you and I of those who listen and follow the best of what they listen to.

Fill in the gaps.

Second Khutbah: The Story of Umm Ayman

My dear brothers and sisters, Abu Bakr and Umar decided to go and visit Umm Ayman as the Prophet ﷺ used to do. So when they went to visit her, she remembered the Messenger of Allah and she cried.

So they told her:

"Don't you know that the Prophet is in a better place with Allah jalla jalaluhu? That was his choice to be with Allah."

So she said, "I am not crying about that."

"What I'm mourning and crying right now is the fact that Revelation has ceased. No more. Jibreel is not coming to see the Prophet ﷺ anymore. That connection, that open line of communication that we had with Allah jalla jalaluhu or with Heaven through fresh revelation coming from Allah jalla jalaluhu came to an end with the passing of the Prophet ﷺ."

And when she mentioned that, Abu Bakr and Umar started to cry. That's one thing that they lost and that's one thing that we lost. And the companions of the Prophet knew, felt and experienced what it's like to have the Messenger of Allah in their midst.

Allah jalla jalaluhu gave them that privilege and that gift. You and I on the other hand, brothers and sisters, unless we go out—well I don't want to say go out of our way as if we're doing anyone a favor—but unless we are committed enough to bring the legacy of the Prophet, to bring the tradition of the Prophet into our lives, we have to be proactive, we have to seek it, we have to desire it, we have to be committed to it.

Unless we do that we won't be able to get any of it. We won't be able to get a taste of what it's like to have the Messenger of Allah in your life.

We have to do it differently, we have to seek it, we have to go. We have to be so committed. We have to study the Quran.

The Character of the Prophet

The companions of the Prophet had a dynamic relationship with the Quran, a two-way relationship. Even when they had difficulty understanding the Quran, sometimes the answer came through the Quran. More revelation came to explain to them. Or the Prophet was there to explain to them and they sought it too.

But you and I, we have to be disciplined enough, motivated enough on our own to go and seek the Prophet ﷺ.

I'll conclude by saying the following. 'Urwah ibn Zubayr went to Aisha, and he said—or Masrooq rather—they asked Aisha, "What was he like? The Messenger of Allah. We want to know what he was like because we want to be able to relate to him. Describe him."

She said, "Don't you read the Quran?"

He said, "Yes."

"That was your Prophet. His character was of the Quran. Study it. Study how the Prophet manifested or how the Prophet applied this book. Live it to the best of your ability. And abshir—glad tidings to those who do that."

The Prophet said:

"The closest of you and the dearest to me on the Day of Judgment are those who have the best of manners— manners that are inspired by the character of the Prophet."

May Allah jalla jalaluhu reunite us with our Prophet. May Allah's peace and blessings be upon him.

Salawat upon the Prophet

Surah Al-Ahzab 33:56

Surah An-Nahl 16:90

End of Khutbah